


The Doctor

by Joe_Reaves



Series: From the Ashes [5]
Category: Empire Records (1995), NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Apocalypse, Crossover, Gen, Plague
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-14
Updated: 2010-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joe_Reaves/pseuds/Joe_Reaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe and Lucas meet another survivor as they travel to the naval base they intend to call home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Doctor

Joe saw an older man in a tweed jacket, corduroy trousers, and, rather incongruously Joe thought, a grey trilby hat walking along the side of the road. He pulled over to see if he wanted to join them.

The man turned towards them when he saw the truck coming and tipped his hat. "Well, hello gentlemen. I was beginning to think I was the only survivor left in this state. You're not from around here though." He put his hand through the window to shake Joe's. "My name is Dr. Mallard."

"With an accent like that, you're not from around here either," Joe said with a smile. "Scotland?"

"Not for about thirty years now, young man," he said jovially. "I left when I graduated medical school."

"Lucas Miller," Lucas introduced himself, stretching across Joe to shake the doctor's hand. "And this is Lt. Comm. Joe Reaves. We're living at a kind of military base just north of the town. If you're alone, you're welcome to join us."

"I know the base," Dr. Mallard said with a nod. "There used to be planes coming in at all times, but there never seemed to be anyone coming and going. It wasn't permanently inhabited as far as I could see. I always wondered about it."

"It was supposed to be an emergency shelter in case of, well, emergency, but it was still under construction," Joe explained. "There's a couple of large underground shelters and it's pretty well supplied. We'll gather more things as we go along and we were talking about building houses. You'd be most welcome to join us. I'm sure having a doctor around would be a real blessing."

The doctor smiled broadly at them, his eyes twinkling in delight. "That's very neighbourly of you gentlemen. Would you be able to help me move my things from my home to the base? I have a lot of equipment and I don't think I could be without my books. They're what kept me sane after people started dying." He looked past Joe, not really seeing him any more as he remembered. "I don't think anyone could really understand how helpless you feel when your patients, your friends, are dying all around you and you can't do a damn thing about it. And through it all I remained distressingly healthy."

Joe smiled sympathetically. "Let us give you a ride back to your home and then we'll come back and help you move. We need to empty the truck out first, but we'll be back as soon as we're done."

Shaking himself slightly, Dr. Mallard dragged his thoughts back to the present and smiled again, although it wasn't as open as the first one had been and it didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you, both, for everything."

Lucas slid over and Dr. Mallard climbed in beside him. He didn't speak much as they drove, just pointing out where Joe needed to turn. Instead, he stared through the window at the empty town as if he was seeing it as it had been before the illness came.

Joe pulled over in front of a small house with whitewashed walls and a red tiled roof. In the front garden was the unmistakable sight of a grave, marked with a small wooden cross. Joe and Lucas looked at it and then back at the doctor.

"Your wife?" Lucas asked softly.

"My mother," Dr Mallard replied. "She was old and unwell anyway, but I didn't expect to lose her so soon." He forced himself to smile again. "Still, she had a good innings. She was seventy-two you know. Not a bad age..." He trailed off and then looked back at Joe. "I'll be right here, Lieutenant Commander Reaves," he promised.

"It's Joe," he insisted with a smile.

"Then I'm Donald," Dr. Mallard told him. "But my friends call me Ducky."


End file.
